When copyright expires, works enter the public domain. 

Works in the public domain are free of copyright and can be used or modified without payment or permission from the owner. 

Before copying a work, ensure the copy-in-hand is in the public domain. Republished or edited work may have new copyright restrictions.

To locate public domain material online, search online for "public domain" + the type of material you are interested in (e.g., "public domain" images).

Popular pubic domain collections include:

• Project Gutenberg

  A collection of over 50,000 free e-books

• Public domain image resources

  A comprehensive list of public domain resources

Determining if works are in the public domain may be difficult. Consult the following to to better understand if a work is in the public domain: 

• UBC's Public Domain Guide 
• UofA's Public Domain Flowchart

Please feel free to reach out to the Copyright Office if you have further difficulties.

Creative Commons licenses allow creators to apply certain conditions to use of their work. These conditions, outlined below, are combined to create the Creative Commons license. For example, a photographer may retain their right to be credited (Attribution), but waive their right to benefit financially from their work with a CC-BY license. 

CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-NC: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. 

CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. 

To help you choose the best license for your work, there is a Creative Commons License Chooser tool. This is a simple tool to help you go through what elements you should consider when choosing a license. 

Adapted from About CC Licenses

Open Access is a mode of scholarly publishing where research outputs are made freely available via the internet. This represents a shift from the traditional publishing model, in which commercial publishers restrict access to scholarly content through fee-based subscriptions.

To learn more about open access and explore Open Access databases, check out our Open Access page. 

Open Access is different from open educational resources (OER), because although open access resources are free, they cannot be modified or repurposed the same way OER can. 

OER are "teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others."

Resources include course materials, open textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other materials that facilitate access to knowledge.

You can browse BCCampus’s Open Textbooks for guidance on available open textbooks and adoption processes. If you have decided to adopt a BC Open Digital Textbook for your course, the Campus Store will offer printed copies for purchase.

To learn more about OER, check out the Open Education Resource page on our Open Access guide. 

Adapted from BCcampus